The editors of Seznam Zpráv have selected the most interesting opinions for the Readers’ Forum from the discussion in the article about the approach of primary schools to allowing or, on the contrary, banning mobile phones for pupils.
Jan Weber: Our children have limited access to computers and phones (Time Ex’pr and Family Link), they only bring push-button phones to school. Even so, they have no problem writing and calling anyone, but in two years they have not met the children in the settlement where we bought the cottage.
Vladimir Vanek: As the classic says: we may not like it, we may not agree with it, but that’s about all we can do! Progress, development cannot be stopped, and if pupils and students have more knowledge with mobile technologies than educators, something is wrong! A good knowledge of mobile applications and technologies can enable a teacher to incorporate this knowledge into teaching and thereby motivate pupils. A smartphone is not only a device for games, but nowadays it is a “book of books” where you can look up any information about anything in the world in a moment!
Lenka Cábová: No cell phones at school! The reality is that if I, as a parent, could influence it and wasn’t forced by the school that the child should have WhatsApp or Bachelors on his mobile from the third grade, where all the information and assignments, schedule, etc. go, I would be more in favor of the homework book. We kept hearing how the daughter is the last one in the class who doesn’t have a cell phone yet, then the last one who doesn’t have a touch cell phone and the Internet. The mobile phone should be mainly for calls. On communication between parents and children after school in free time. Cell phones should be turned off during class. On the first level, I think that having a touch cell phone with unlimited internet is nonsense. It just distracts the kids and they want to be more mature, they don’t want to enjoy childhood as we know it. They can’t make friends, they can’t communicate, everyone stares at the screens during the break. And that’s because we adults showed it to them and allowed it! Now it is very difficult to undo. Small children in the first grade only need a push-button cell phone to let their parents know that they have reached school, the bus or the club. Older children in the second grade flirt with social networks and have no idea what danger lurks there. They still think they have everything under control. It hasn’t been like that for a long time. From experience in my area, I see how children lie to their parents and spend more time on mobile phones and the Internet than is healthy, many are already addicted. They don’t care about anything else. Unfortunately, they carry these habits into adulthood. If those boundaries are not firmly set at school or in the family, then the child will create his own world and no longer likes to obey and has no effort to tighten his belt, not even many adults can do it.
Petr Šlachta: I don’t know how in other schools, it’s not a problem here. In the line for lunch, a child is standing with a mobile phone in hand, so be it, you can’t stop progress. They still communicate with each other. In class, of course, only to look up some information (they have computers in their pockets, so why not use them), Kahoot, etc. Recently, someone from the older generation commented on people on public transport, that everyone is staring at their mobile phones. Well, everyone used to sniff the newspaper.
Matej Pavlů: I worry about the next generation. They still have some bronze daggers in their hands. We had to make do with flints. Just let them, they’ll figure it out. They called me that with the computer when I spent so much time with it from the age of six that it would boil my brain or something. And today, thanks to the PC, I earn so much for so little time spent that my parents never dreamed of it. If you don’t want the children to do something, don’t do it in front of them, especially YOU! And if you want to ban something, you have to know why. How the thing works and what specifically is harmful. The teacher/parent can ban cell phones as she wants if: 1) she holds it in her hands whenever possible, 2) she doesn’t even know how a smartphone works. I explained the risks to my kids, set the rules, and wow, it works. To cut them off completely is to destroy their future. Giving them complete freedom is potentially a problem that will have to be solved at some point.
Daniel Forman: We are four and seven years old, the children don’t need mobile phones or tablets, they love books, they are often in the library, the older one actively looks for it himself and at school, he has also dragged the other children along. They love painting, stickers, coloring books, they want to play with us, they play sports, they are interested in nature. Even this year, Santa will not bring a mobile phone, my son does not need one, so far… this was due to the great work of my wife in particular, who was able to give them everything during the parental leave, which is intended for just that, not for resting and seizing the children with mobile phones.
Petr Mach: Parents who do not want their children to use mobile phones at school can simply block them. They don’t need to enforce a school ban for it.
Sylva Šporková: Like everything else around children, the use of phones is a matter for the parents. When the teacher writes that the children just sit on the phone and don’t have friends, it means that they only see the child outside of class for the few minutes during breaks. But the absolute majority of children have a lot of clubs, they go to the ZUŠ, sports clubs, Boy Scouts, hiking clubs, they go on trips with their parents and their friends – and there, of course, they have friends everywhere and social relations do not suffer in any way. We have nine grandchildren (ages 6-17), we also know a few of their friends – and most of them use their mobile phones most often to text with their friends.
Readers’ Forum
The editors of Seznam Zpráv select the most interesting contributions from the readers’ discussion (some may be editorially shortened). We are interested in your opinions on current topics, and we value debaters who debate politely, to the point, and adhere to the SZ discussion code.
Jan Novotný: The biggest threat to the development of humanity is the regressive female teachers from the Bronze Age, who impose their outdated views on the students. If every teacher from the beginning of mankind behaved like this, we would be somewhere in the Middle Ages today. And the break is a time for students to relax as they want, not to be told how to spend the break. It was here years ago that students had to walk in a circle in the corridors like trained monkeys.
Michal Jursa: From time immemorial, the old have always resented the customs, manners and speech of the young, they don’t understand the music, they don’t understand the clothes, they don’t understand the speed of time that passes them by, but they know that it’s definitely wrong, because they didn’t do it that way. No, it’s not wrong, it’s just different, and this generational ritual has been around for thousands of years and always will be.
Zbyněk Jaroš: We either can’t do without mobile phones anymore, or they make life significantly easier (banks, plane tickets, accommodation, soon a citizenship card…). However, I do not see staring at the mobile phone during breaks as a positive thing. Unfortunately, I often see how mothers shove the mobile phone at a small child to keep him calm, on social media and similar nonsense. That will be left to the children. The school is not responsible for this.
